Glyder – A Mobile App For Small Business Marketing

Online marketing can be daunting for many small businesses, especially since many of them lack the right expertise and background in both marketing and technology. But a new mobile application may be what they’re looking for: Glyder, an iPhone application that lets small businesses create and share effective marketing messages for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, as well as email, text message, MailChimp and even Passbook.

Essentially, the application lets small businesses control three elements that’s crucial for reaching customers – effective content, professional visual design, and efficient distribution across various channels.

500 Startups-backed Glyder is founded by OpenTable co-founder Glenn Allen and former Zynga mobile designer Alan Wells, after recognizing just how complicated and expensive online marketing has become for the millions of small businesses that have less than five employees and lack the design and marketing resources of larger companies.

“Very small businesses still struggle with the complexity of online marketing – they have to reach their customers on multiple platforms and are underserved by existing web-based tools,” notes Glenn Allen. “They don’t have the time required to figure out all the platforms or the money to hire an employee or consultant.” He added that after meeting hundreds of business owners and seeing the same issues over and over again, it became clear to the founders that these businesses need a faster, easier, more affordable way to communicate with their customers.

“We’re putting the power of professional design and proven customer communication into their pocket at a price that puts the interests of the business owner first,” he adds.

Glyder is free to use, but monetizes itself by providing premium templates and additional distribution options, which are available for $0.99 each via in-app purchase.

It’s certainly curious that Glyder differentiates itself from other online marketing tools by focusing on a completely mobile experience. “For our customers, having Glyder in their pocket means they’re able to be proactive about marketing their business without taking time out of their day to sit behind a computer, away from their customers,” explains Alan Wells.

“Our goal is to make getting effective content and professional design as easy as buying a virtual item in a game or a book on a Kindle.”

Daniel Goh is the founder and chief editor of Young | Upstarts, as well as an F&B entrepreneur. Daniel has a background in public relations, and is interested in issues in entrepreneurship, small business, marketing, public relations and the online space. He can be reached at daniel [at] youngupstarts [dot] com.

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